You, with your words like knives, and swords and weapons that you use
against me,
You, have knocked me off my feet again, got me feeling like I'm nothing,
You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard calling me out when I'm
wounded,
You, picking on the weaker man.
Well you can take me down with just one single blow.
But you don't know what you don't know.
Someday, I'll be living in a big ol' city,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean.
Someday, I'll be big enough so that you can't hit me,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean.
Why you gotta be so mean?
You, with your switching sides and your wildfire lies and your humiliation,
You, have pointed out my flaws again, as if I don't already see them,
I walk with my head down trying to block you out 'cause I'll never impress you,
I just wanna feel okay again.
I'll bet you got pushed around,
Somebody made you cold,
But the cycle ends right now 'cause you can't lead me down that road.
But you don't know what you don't know.
Someday, I'll be living in a big ol' city,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean.
Someday, I'll be big enough so that you can't hit me,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean.
Why you gotta be so mean?
And I can see you years from now, in a bar talking over a football game,
With that same big loud opinion but nobody's listening,
Washed up and ranting about the same old bits or things,
Drunk and rambling on about how I can't sing,
But all you are is mean.
All you are is mean, and a liar, and pathetic, and alone in life and mean.
And mean, and mean, and mean.
But someday, I'll be living in a big ol' city,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean.
Yeah, yeah.
Someday, I'll be big enough so you can't hit me,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean.
Why you gotta be so mean?
Someday, I'll be living in a big ol' city,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean.
Someday, I'll be big enough so you can't hit me,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean.
Why you gotta be so mean?
The song is about somebody who is mean to this girl all the time. The person is just mean to everyone. But the songwriter says that she knows someday she'll be more successful then him. He'll just be "talking over a football game". And she will be "living in a big ol' city". The significance of the title, Mean, is because it's all about a person being mean to the songwriter.
I think the meaning of the song was just that some person was being mean to the songwriter a while ago. The message would probably be to not be mean to other people because it's not going to get you anywhere in life. The songwriter says, "And I can see you years from now, in a bar talking over a football game. With that same big loud opinion but nobody's listening." It's basically that the person who bullied her when she was younger is just babbling on in a bar and no one really cares about what they have to say. "All you are is mean, and a liar, and pathetic, and alone in life and mean." So that bully grew up and didn't really become much of anything but the songwriter says that she became something. "Someday, I'll be living in a big ol' city.... Someday, I'll be big enough so that you can't hit me." So now she's successful so that he can't mess with her anymore and he didn't become much of anything.
I think there's another message too. I think that the songwriter is trying to say that if you are bullied, not to let the bully take you down with them. The song says, "Somebody made you cold. But the cycle ends right now 'cause you can't lead me down that road." So that bully probably didn't have the best childhood. It could have been they were bullied or they had a bad home life or something. But in the end, the bully started bullying others as well. So now the songwriter is the victim of the bullying, and she says she refuses to start bullying others as a result of her being teased and stuff.
This song is poetry for a number of reasons. It starts out with a simile, "You, with your words like knives, and swords and weapons that you use against me," The person bullying her didn't really use knives and swords and other weapons like that. It was just their words that felt like weapons to the songwriter. It also has metaphors such as, "...you can't lead me down that road," and, "I'll be big enough so you can't hit me," The bully isn't literally trying to lead the songwriter down a road and she isn't going to grow so big he can't hit her. It also has rhyming, "Well you can take me down with just one single blow. But you don't know what you don't know." The song has repetition, "...and mean. And mean, and mean, and mean," and "You, with your words like knives...You, have knocked me off my feet again...You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard...You, picking on the weaker man." It has alliteration, "...your switching sides..." Mean has rhythm as well. "Washed up and ranting about the same old bits or things. Drunk and rambling on about how I can't sing." "...nails on a chalkboard calling me out when I'm
wounded." Nails can't really call people out so it's personification.
You, with your words like knives, and swords and weapons that you use
against me,
You, have knocked me off my feet again, got me feeling like I'm nothing,
You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard calling me out when I'm
wounded,
You, picking on the weaker man.
Well you can take me down with just one single blow.
But you don't know what you don't know.
Someday, I'll be living in a big ol' city,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean.
Someday, I'll be big enough so that you can't hit me,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean.
Why you gotta be so mean?
You, with your switching sides and your wildfire lies and your humiliation,
You, have pointed out my flaws again, as if I don't already see them,
I walk with my head down trying to block you out 'cause I'll never impress you,
I just wanna feel okay again.
I'll bet you got pushed around,
Somebody made you cold,
But the cycle ends right now 'cause you can't lead me down that road.
But you don't know what you don't know.
Someday, I'll be living in a big ol' city,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean.
Someday, I'll be big enough so that you can't hit me,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean.
Why you gotta be so mean?
And I can see you years from now, in a bar talking over a football game,
With that same big loud opinion but nobody's listening,
Washed up and ranting about the same old bits or things,
Drunk and rambling on about how I can't sing,
But all you are is mean.
All you are is mean, and a liar, and pathetic, and alone in life and mean.
And mean, and mean, and mean.
But someday, I'll be living in a big ol' city,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean.
Yeah, yeah.
Someday, I'll be big enough so you can't hit me,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean.
Why you gotta be so mean?
Someday, I'll be living in a big ol' city,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean.
Someday, I'll be big enough so you can't hit me,
And all you're ever gonna be is mean.
Why you gotta be so mean?
The song is about somebody who is mean to this girl all the time. The person is just mean to everyone. But the songwriter says that she knows someday she'll be more successful then him. He'll just be "talking over a football game". And she will be "living in a big ol' city". The significance of the title, Mean, is because it's all about a person being mean to the songwriter.
I think the meaning of the song was just that some person was being mean to the songwriter a while ago. The message would probably be to not be mean to other people because it's not going to get you anywhere in life. The songwriter says, "And I can see you years from now, in a bar talking over a football game. With that same big loud opinion but nobody's listening." It's basically that the person who bullied her when she was younger is just babbling on in a bar and no one really cares about what they have to say. "All you are is mean, and a liar, and pathetic, and alone in life and mean." So that bully grew up and didn't really become much of anything but the songwriter says that she became something. "Someday, I'll be living in a big ol' city.... Someday, I'll be big enough so that you can't hit me." So now she's successful so that he can't mess with her anymore and he didn't become much of anything.
I think there's another message too. I think that the songwriter is trying to say that if you are bullied, not to let the bully take you down with them. The song says, "Somebody made you cold. But the cycle ends right now 'cause you can't lead me down that road." So that bully probably didn't have the best childhood. It could have been they were bullied or they had a bad home life or something. But in the end, the bully started bullying others as well. So now the songwriter is the victim of the bullying, and she says she refuses to start bullying others as a result of her being teased and stuff.
This song is poetry for a number of reasons. It starts out with a simile, "You, with your words like knives, and swords and weapons that you use against me," The person bullying her didn't really use knives and swords and other weapons like that. It was just their words that felt like weapons to the songwriter. It also has metaphors such as, "...you can't lead me down that road," and, "I'll be big enough so you can't hit me," The bully isn't literally trying to lead the songwriter down a road and she isn't going to grow so big he can't hit her. It also has rhyming, "Well you can take me down with just one single blow. But you don't know what you don't know." The song has repetition, "...and mean. And mean, and mean, and mean," and "You, with your words like knives...You, have knocked me off my feet again...You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard...You, picking on the weaker man." It has alliteration, "...your switching sides..." Mean has rhythm as well. "Washed up and ranting about the same old bits or things. Drunk and rambling on about how I can't sing." "...nails on a chalkboard calling me out when I'm
wounded." Nails can't really call people out so it's personification.